Skip feed device for cigar machine



Feb. 14, 1961 s. T. GUSTAVSON SKIP FEED DEVICE FOR CIGAR MACHINE 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 2, 1959 FIG. 1

INVENTOR.

STERUNG T. GUSTAVSON Feb. 14, 1961 s. T. GUSTAVSON 2,971,516

SKIP FEED DEVICE FOR CIGAR MACHINE Filed. Feb. 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2IN VENTOR.

BY STERLING T. GUSTAVSON 2,971,516 SKIP FEED DEVICE FOR CIGAR MACHINESterling .T. Gustavson, Rosedale, N.Y., assignor to International CigarMachinery Company, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 2, 1959,SenNo. 790,510 6 Claims. (Cl. 131-21) This invention relates to themeasuring, severing and handling of long filler tobacco in a cigarmachine. More particularly, it relates to handling of the filler in thecrossfeed of a cigar machine.

It is cutomary in such machines to feed a, slight overage to themeasuring chamber to insure that that unit will always be sufficientlyfull. When the measuring chamber is filled to a predetermined level skipfeed means are provided to eliminate feed during one or more cycles ofthe machine. t

With certain tobaccos and particularly those of a very high moisturecontent, such as is employed in the manufacture of Toscani cigars, thereis a tendency during the skip feed for the tobaccoto extend or creepsomewhat along the belt. This produces inaccuracies in the length ofthccharge and also results in the crossfeed knife cutting a small shavingfrom the crossfeed stack. Such shavings then tend to obstruct mechanicalportions of the machine. It is accordingly an object of the invention toprevent the creeping of certain tobaccos on a crossfeed belt during theskip feed.

. .It is more particularly antobject of my invention to provide a simplemeans for controlling at the skip feed mechanism, the operation of .thecrossfeed presser foot, and of the vertical cutoff knife. Accordingly,it is an object of the invention to provide a modified drive means forthe presser foot and the knife which may be inactivated for a cycle ormore and then reactivated in cycle with the machine.

. The hotel features which I believe to be characteristic of myinvention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims Myinvention itself, however, both as to its organization and method ofoperation may be understood by reference to the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the cigar machine showing aportion of the crossfeed, the measuring chamber, skip feed mehcanism,and the vertical knife and presser foot mechanisms in accordance with myinvention; 7

Fig. 2 is a detailed showing of themechanism in accordance with myinvention for operating the vertical knife and presser foot; 1,

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, of the crossfeed andverticalknife mechanism; and a Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed showing of aportion of the drive means in accordance with the invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, there is shown a crossfeedconveyor 10, bottom belt 12 and side belts 14 which guide the tobacco. Tbeneath the presser foot 16. The belts 12 and 14 are intermittentlydriven by a skip feed mechanism generally indicated at 18. This type ofmechanism and its drive means may be more fully understood by referenceto the patent to Clause et al. 2,667,171, dated January 26, 1954.

In Fig. 1 a portion of a ratchet wheel 24 corresponding to the ratchetwheel 24' of the aforementioned patent is shown. Adjacent the ratchetwheel on a shaft 26 is pivotally mounted an arm 28 carrying an L-shapedpawl controlling member. 30. The arm '28 is urged counterscribed in'theaforesaid Clausen et'al. patent. When a feed cycle is called for, it isreleased by a movement 'ice of rock arm 34 caused in turn by a downwardmove ment of the vertical rod 36 when it is contacted by the stud37 onthe measuring plunger mechanism 40.

. It should be understood that as the tobacco T is fed past the verticalknife K and severed it is pressed downward by the measuring plunger 42into the measuring chamber 44 from the bottom of which meteredquantities are removed in a well known manner. The tobacco T is fed inaquantity slightly in excess of the demands of the measuring chamber.Accordingly, when the measuring chamber is filledto a certainpredetermined amount, the stud 37 on the measuring plunger apparatuswill fail to strike and depress the vertical rod 36. When this occurs,arm 28 will not be released by the lock member 34 and will remain in itsclockwise position resulting in a skip feed of crossfeed belts 12 and14. The mechanism of the measuring chamber plunger 42 is operated by acam driven vertical rod 46 which, by means of an arm 48, secured to ashaft 50, rocks the shaft 50 which in turn raises and lowers a verticalshaft 52 of the measuring plunger 42 by means of an arm 54 also securedto the shaft 50. p

Also mounted in the main frame of the machine is another rock shaft 56(Figs. 1 and 4) on which is loosely mounted a bell crank lever 58 whosearm 60 is raised and lowered by a cam driven vertical rod 62 operatingfrom the main cam shaft (not shown) of the machine. The other arm 64ofbell crank lever 58 carries a square stud 66., Stud 66 may be engagedby a cutout portion of a latch 68 pivoted on the free end of an arm 70mounted on and keyed to shaft 56. An arm 70 carries a stud 72 and servesas an anchor for a spring 74 urging the latch 68 into latchingengagement with square stud 66. The stud 72 further serves as anabutment for the adjustable stud 76 mounted in a boss 78 of arm 60 ofhell crank lever 58. It will be seen by reference to Fig.

rock shaft 56 downwardly and link 82 lowers the slide 84 supporting theknife K. Opposite rotation of the shaft 56 is affected only when thelatch 68 is engaged with the square stud 66 to raise the knife and also,as will be seen, the presser foot 16. To the hub of the lever is secureda cam plate 86 enga ing a cam follower 93 to operate the mechanism forthe presser foot 16. The latch 68 may be engaged by a cam roller 67a onthe bell crank lever 67 when the lever 28 is in its clockwise positionas above described and as viewed in Fig. 1. In this position the arm 67raises the link 65 which has a lost motion slot 65a. When the end of theslot 65a engages the pin 67b, the arm 67 is moved to the right as shownin Fig. land to the left as shown in Fig. 4. This motion unlatches the.latch 68 from the square stud 66 so that no motion is transferred to theshaft 56. Hence the knife and the presser foot remain in their lowermostpositions during a skip feed cycle.

. The presser foot 16 is suspended from the free end of an arm 88pivoted. on the stud shaft 90. Also pivoted on the stud. shaft .90 is anarm 92 resiliently connected being in i ts lowermost position) Thus thepre sser foot 16 is moved only when "the i Qrtical knife K islifted.When the arm 80 withthefvert'ic knife K descends, cam

"plate 86 yieldingly presses the'presser foot down on the strip oftobacco T through the spring-loading ofspring loaded rod 94.

' Operation -The tobacco stream T is intermittently advanced along thecrossfeed by predetermined increments past vertical knife K. During theintermittency of this feed the knife K and presser foot 16 movedownwardly due to the cyclical reciprocation of the vertical rod 62rocking the rock shaft 56counter-clockwise as'illustrated in Fig. 1. Thepurpose of the measuring chamber 44 which is one well known in the art,is to columnize the severed leading charges where they may be compressedby the presser foot 42 and while compressed a bunch charge severed fromthe bottom by the horizontal knife 43. The operation of the knife 43 andthe removal of the bunch charge are Well known in the art and since theydo not form a part of the invention further description of these partsis deemed unnecessary.

However, in order to keep the measuring chamber fully charged, thecrossfeed feeds slightly more tobacco than is necessary. When themeasuring chamber becomes filled to a certain predetermined height, thepresser foot '42 does not descend sufficiently to contact and move thevertical rod 36. Failure of the vertical rod 36 to move results in askip feed from the intermittent feed mechanism 18 as is more fullydescribed in such patents as Durning 2,470,766 and Clausen et al.2,667,171. Since the precise functioning of how the skip mechanism worksis not necessary for an understanding of this invention, furtherdescription thereof is likewise thought unnecessary. The shaft 62 iscyclically reciprocated by the main drive cams of the machine.

It is believed suflicient to note that when a skip feed occurs the arm28 remains in a clockwise position as viewed in Fig. 1 with the resultthat the link 65 is raised by the arm 63 which is fixed to the arm 28and the bell crank 67 moves under latch 68 to disengage the latch 68from the square stud'66. Thus as the arm 60 of bell crank lever 58 israised no motion is transmitted to the arm 70 and shaft 56.Consequently, the vertical knife K remains down as does the presser foot16. This prevents creep of the tobacco stream T along and relative tothe crossfeed belts 12 and 14 and, more importantly, prevents the knifeK from severing a thin slice or shaving from the leading end of thestream T. The thin slice, of course, would result from the forward creepand the knife motion. Such a shaving can cause obstruction and jammingof the machine.

When the verticalrod 36 and lock member 34 are lowered by the action ofthe measuring chamber plunger,

the arm 28 swings to its counter-clockwise position as viewed in Fig. 1and this through the arm 63 and the link 65 moves the bell crank lever67 counter-clockwise moving the roller 67a out of contact with the latch68, which then through the urging of the spring 74 re-engages the squarestud 66 prior to the commencement of the feed stroke. This results in araising of the knife K and the presser foot 16 during the feed stroke.

I claim:

1. In a cigar machine having an intermittently advanced crossfeed foradvancing a stream of tobacco filler, a vertical knife mounted toreciprocate vertically to sever advanced portions of said strip duringthe intermittency of feed, a presser foot to press and firm a precedingsegment of said stream during the operation of said knife, a lever, saidlever being mounted to move about a center and operative to raise saidknife and said presser said latch.

an'oscillating member driven to oscillate about said shaft 2. In acrossfeed mechanism for a cigar machine havinga reciprocating cutoffknife, an intermittent drive to operate said crossfeed, andia skip feedmechanism for said intermittent drive, a moving member on said skip feedmechanism having a skip feed position, a rock shaft having means securedthereon operative to reciprocate said knife when said shaft is rocked, acontinuously oscillating member, a crank secured to said rock shaft,latch means to drivingly connect in at least one driving direction saidcontinuously oscillating member with said crank, and means operated bysaid moving member on said skip feed mechanism to contact and unlatchsaid latch when said skip feed mechanism is in a skip feed position.

3. In a cigar machine having a crossfeed mechanism, a a reciprocablecutoff knife, an intermittent'drive means for said crossfeed, said drivemeans having a pawl and ratchet action, and a mechanism associate-d withsaid pawl and ratchet action to render it inoperative during a feedcycle, a rock shaft, operative mechanism drivingly connecting said rockshaft with said reciprocable knife to reciprocate said knife, areciprocating member, latch means to drivingly connect in at least onedirection of reciprocation of said reciprocating member saidreciprocating member and said rock shaft, and a device operated by saidassociated mechanism to unlatch said latch means during a skip feedcycle. 4. In a crossfeed mechanism for a cigar machine having areciprocating cutoff knife, a presser foot, an intermittent drive tooperate said crossfeed, and a skip feed mechanism for said intermittentdrive, a moving memher on said skip feed mechanism movable from a feedposition to a skip feed position, a rock shaft, a lever secured to saidshaft and having its free end operatively connected to reciprocate saidreciprocating cutoii knife, a cam on the hub of said lever, a camfollower connected to said presser foot and engaging said cam to raiseand lower said presser foot when said lever and said rock shaft move, acontinuously oscillating member, a mem ber radially spaced from saidrock shaft and connected thereto, latch means to drivingly connect in atleast one driving direction said continuously oscillating member andsaid radially spaced member, and means operated by said moving member onsaid skip feed mechanism to contact and unlatch said latch when saidskip feed mechanism is in a skip feed position, whereby movement in atleast one direction of said presser foot and said reciprocating knife iseliminated.

5. In a cigar machine having drive means, a measuring plunger activatedby said drive means, and skip feed means activated by said measuringplunger, a rock shaft,

by said drive means, a crank fixed on said shaft, a latch mounted toconnect when latched said crank with said oscillating member to rocksaid shaft in at least one direction, and means activated by said skipfeed means when said skip feed means is activated by said measuringplunger to move said latch into unlatching position.

6. In a cigar machine having drive means, a measuring plunger activatedby said drive means, and skip feed means activated by said measuringplunger, 21 rock shaft, a presser foot, a cam piece secured to saidshaft and operative to raise and lower said presser foot, an oscillatingmember driven to oscillate about said shaft by said drive means, a crankfixed on said shaft, a latch mounted to connect when latched said crankwith said oscillating member to rock said shaft in at least onedirection, and means activated by said skip feed means when said skipfeed means is activated by said measuring plunger to move said latchinto unlatching position.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

